How,Your,Call,Center,Should,Re business, insurance How Your Call Center Should Respond to Disaster

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There are countless disasters all over the world every day that have truly horrible consequences. While businesses certainly can be interrupted and transactions held up by things such as war and terrorist attack, a lot of damage can still be done by more common emergencies such as fire, lightning, flooding, earthquakes as well as telephone and electrical outages. These all can potentially affect your call center, causing problems for your clients.So, you might be asking, "How can I lessen the effects?" Well, planning what you would do beforehand and having good communications are important. People usually do not expect problems, and they usually do not happen- but if one ever happens you will be so much better off if you are prepared. If you do not, then there can be horrible effects for you center and your clients.Where does one start? A good idea is to start with involving your staff in writing up a detailed plan as for what to do in the even something happens. This gets them active in the planning process and helps you identify aspects that may need special attention that you could have overlooked. Also, back up your system frequently. Once a week or so might be plenty for some systems but for those that have "vital" clients, such as medical, specialty consultant or service accounts, and companies with an emergency nature should clearly back up their system more often, perhaps every day. It is a good idea to store your back ups somewhere else than the center for safety. Make sure you tell your managers and staff what to do if they need to restore a backup and where the backups are stored.Power outages from lightning are a common thread, so make sure you have good, reliable back-up power sources. You should test back-up power at least once or twice a month. Batteries and other parts of the backup system are subject to wearing down over time so make sure you replace batteries according to the manufacturer''s recommended schedule. Make sure your managers know what to do if you loose power. Its important to know that if the power goes out for extended periods of time, battery backup might not be enough for more than a while and you may have to add-on a generator to your emergency power system in order to keep constant power. Be aware that most stock generators do not have power that is of a quality to be running straight to your system. You probably need to run the power through a line conditioner make sure you eliminate power spikes, surges, and variations in voltage that can damage your sensitive equipment.Be aware that equipment can fail on its own. Over time, wear and tear and constant usage take their toll on equipment. Make sure you own extras of crucial components like the processor board, hard drives and power supplies. You may even want to keep extra telephony interface cards for your operator station ports, T1, ISDN, or DID trunks, not to mention your business lines. You might want to consider pooling spares of your equipment with other centers in your area that use the same system. You should not rely on counter-to-counter delivery of key components. Harsh weather as well as the renewed attention that is being paid to airport security might cause this to become more complicated and potentially impossible.You should also look into a small backup telephone system as a standby unit. If your primary system for some reason stops working, having a small back-up system will allow your center to respond to calls for your key clients while the service is out. I cannot stress how important it is to make sure your managers know the game plan- make sure they know the procedure to contact telephone service company to redirect your phone lines to your back-up system or to another location. You could potentially set up an agreement with another center so that if either they or you have a problem, you could redirect lines to the other center so that service would be continued.It may even be a good idea to have remote agents as part of your plan. Rough weather could keep employees from meeting at a central location, but remote agents have the ability to work from home. Because of this, you would still be able to process calls and continue to provide your clients with the kind of professional service they expect from you. Moreover, because remote stations are able either to work using direct telephone lines or over the Internet, creating a workable system is easy.Some system manufactures even provide both you with both options, so it is important to research your needs when purchasing equipment. This is important because neither can be set up on short notice. You should plan what you would do beforehand and have the capabilities implemented and ready before an emergency happens so that remote access is ready when you need it.Bearing in mind the complex computer-based systems that exist today, having a service contract set up with your system vendors might be some of the best insurance that you can get. There is nothing worse than experiencing a problem with an aspect of your system and then soon finding out that technical support is not immediately available or if it is available, has a fee attached to its use.Have good communication with your power company and your telephone company. Write down key contact information and prominently display it in your center. Be certain your managers know how to contact them if there is an emergency. If you rent or lease your space, be sure you work with your property manager to insure that you can get immediate access to the power relay area and the telephone junction area of your building. Be sure you have ample insurance to protect you against fire, water, or electrical problems that could potentially cripple or destroy your system and operations.Ensure some working capital is available or at the very least a line of credit with your financial institution to help cover initial expenses in case of an emergency. This is important because an insurance policy will not always provide immediate cash necessary to repair or replace damaged facilities and equipment, and immediate response is vital.Make sure you discuss your emergency plan with your managers and with your employees. Keep a copy of this plan with the contact information readily available at your center and another copy in another location for safety. You might need to share your plan with your key accounts and your financial institution to assure them you have a good response to protect their investments. Make sure that you look over this plan at least a couple times a year or so. It is also important that you update all the contact information for your telephone, power, building management, insurance, and technical service companies immediately when it changes so there is not any confusion if an emergency is to happen.By carefully constructing and possessing a well thought out and practical emergency plan, you have one of the best insurance policies possible! It might seem like a lot of work and worry right now, but it is invaluable should something happen that is a threat to the wellbeing of your business. Article Tags: Call Center, Good Idea, Make Sure, Managers Know, Contact Information